Annuity Market News articles from July 2003

Annuity Market News archives from July 2003

State Securities Oversight, Senior Sales Spark Debate.
July 1, 2003... WASHINGTON Tensions ran high as two proposed measures sparked debate at the Regulatory Affairs Conference here, sponsored by the National Association for Variable Annuities. The first was the question of whether state securities...

Ominous Tax Law Predictions Unfounded: Job Creation and Worker Assistance Act Not Such a Detriment.
July 1, 2003... WASHINGTON Getting left out in the cold in the recent slate of tax cuts rubbed salt in the wounds of an already battered annuity industry or so many have feared. However, annuities may now fare even better than before, according to some...

Carriers Turn to Guaranteed Withdrawals.
July 1, 2003... As many carriers fret about their ability to manage the risk involved with some living benefits, others are turning to withdrawal benefits that guarantee the return of principal through withdrawals over a period of years. The industry has been...

Split-Fund Annuities Make Big Comeback.
July 1, 2003... Now that the stock market is finally on the rebound, the split funding of annuities is gaining popularity. A split annuity is a combination of an immediate annuity and a deferred variable or fixed annuity. The idea behind it is to provide a...

Index Annuities Trounce Majority of Mutual Funds.
July 1, 2003... Over the last five years, index annuities, a hybrid financial product with fixed and variable components, bested the return from a majority of mutual funds. From March 1998 through March 2003, the majority of index annuities with track...

The Un-Annuity Solution for Income.
July 1, 2003... A lot of people have bought variable annuities with the thought of taking a bit of retirement income and leaving the rest to their kids. As the industry touts the value of lifetime annuitization and concedes that annuities are not ideal for...

GE Bolsters Income Group, Recruiting Rochlin as National Sales Manager.(Brief Article)
July 1, 2003... GE Financial has appointed Adam Rochlin as national sales manager for the retirement services group. Rochlin is responsible for annuity and mutual funds sales in wirehouses and regional and independent broker/dealers. Rochlin most recently...

Lincoln Consolidates Annuity, Life Units; Names Gotta Chief Executive.(Brief Article)
July 1, 2003... Lincoln National Corp. has combined its life insurance and annuity units, creating a single entity managed by CEO John H. Gotta. Gotta ran life insurance for Lincoln as CEO since 1999, and shepherded the company's integration of the Cigna and...

Fox-Pitt Kelton Appoints Zucker as Head Analyst, Life Insurance Equities.(Brief Article)
July 1, 2003... Jason B. Zucker has left Banc of America Securities to become head of the U.S. life insurance equity team at Fox-Pitt Kelton. He had held a similar position for three years at BofA. "I am delighted that an analyst of Jason's quality is...

NYLife Promotes Miller To Policy Services VP For Life, Annuity Products.(Brief Article)
July 1, 2003... New York Life Insurance Co. has promoted Gary J. Miller to the position of first vice president. Miller manages servicing for all traditional life and annuity products. He joined the company last year as vice president, coming from...

Technology Only Part of Call Center Improvement.
July 1, 2003... CHARLOTTE, N.C. At a technology and operations conference, one might expect those issues to reign supreme, but even techies are aware that they do not exist in a vacuum. Nowhere is this more apparent than the area of customer relationship...